Keerath Bhachu & The EvoEco Lab have a paper published in Canadian Science Publishing

The UTM Biology Department would like to take a moment to shine a spotlight on a published paper by Keerath and the EvoEco Lab! Now an MSc student with the Nguyen Ba Lab, this paper was submitted by Keerath, with contributions from former PhD student James Santangelo and former PDF Hind Emad Fadul, while she was still an undergraduate in the EvoEco Lab. See below for more info!

 

Title: Tissue-specific expression of HCN and its metabolic precursors in Trifolium repens

 

Abstract: Cyanogenesis, the release of hydrogen cyanide (HCN), is governed by two loci, Ac and Li, in white clover (Trifolium repens L.). Ac encodes a three gene region that regulates cyanogenic glucoside production, while Li encodes linamarase that hydrolyzes cyanogenic glucosides to produce HCN. We examined Ac and Li expression in leaf, floral, and root tissues of cyanogenic and acyanogenic plants, complemented by gene expression analysis, to understand tissue-specific expression of HCN metabolism. Ac metabolic expression was present in leaves, absent in roots, and rare in flowers. Li metabolic expression in leaves perfectly correlated with that in flowers but was present in roots regardless of linamarase presence in leaves, suggesting spatial enzyme expression variation due to a homologous gene copy. HCN expression in flowers was infrequently expressed at low concentrations in plants with functional Ac and Li. Gene expression analysis confirmed some tissue-specific expression patterns and also suggested more complex molecular regulation than previously described. This study provides the first detailed examination of cyanogenesis tissue specificity in white clover, a plant of agriculture significance. The varied expression of cyanogenic secondary metabolites across tissues indicates the need for research into how white clover regulates its defenses to conserve resources.

 

 

Congratulations, Keerath and the EvoEco Lab!